Top Ten Tuesday: Historical Fiction

August 30: Back To School Freebie -- anything "back to school" related like 10 favorite books I read in school, books I think should be required reading, Required Reading For All Fantasy Fans, required reading for every college freshman, Books to Pair With Classics or Books To Complement A History Lesson, books that would be on my classroom shelf if I were a teacher.

Okey dokey. How about 10 Historical Fiction Books I would rather read than actual history. This isn’t really fair, because I have never read a book about history that would trump a historical fiction novel. Even though I lie to my patients and tell them that history is “just like reading stories,” it SO IS NOT.

I would also like to note that I don’t know what historical fiction is. I am going to define it as a work of fiction set in some random past with a real landmark, event, or person in it. My inclusion criteria may even slip a little bit below as I get closer to giving up on thinking of ten books! Feel free to enlighten me below in the comments, but recognize that I will learn nothing. Please also note that because I do not like history, I have no way of commenting on the accuracy of historical fiction.

Before you get started though, someone explain this cartoon to me! Is it funny!?

Ok, Now on to the books. 

Discovery of Witches – a trilogy about a time- traveling Witch who marries a vampire and becomes part of a 1590 group of rebels. I loved this series.

The Book of Night Women is a hard- ass book to read about a slave revolt in Jamaica at the end of the 18^th century.

The Other Boleyn Girl – Apparently this is the 3^rd book in a series. Which I just found out as I looked this book up for this list… HA!! It was really good and followed a bit of the lives of Mary and Ann Boleyn, the wife/ mistress/ prisoner whatever girls of Henry VIII. I really enjoyed this book when I read it. 

Outlander – These massive books are about a woman transported back to wartime Scotland in 1743. There is a TV series you’ve probably heard of, yes? I’ve never seen it. I’ve only read the first book. Because I have the shortest attention span, ever. Here's a gif from the show... ya know... so my post has a pic.

The Lies We Tell Ourselves – This story is about a white girl and a black girl during the forced integration of a high school in 1959 Virginia.

In the Unlikely Event – an adult book written by child- tested and approved author Judy Blume about three plane crashes in her home town in New Jersey in 1987. I was pretty meh about this book.

The Madonnas of Leningrad – in 1941 Russia, there’s a German siege and museum workers are asked to remove the exhibits for safe keeping.  

A Tale for the Time Being – this one is only a little bit in my loose category. But in it, a 16 – year –old girl is discovering the life of her great grandmother. This was a top pick for me last year.

A Replacement Life – a present- day writer recounts the stories of his grandfather, who lived in Nazi Germany.

Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter. Yep. Good stuff.

Notice that I finished The Fortune Hunter which featured Elizabeth of Wittelsbach, The Empress of Austria recently and did not include it on the list. That is largely unfair since I enjoyed the book. However, I’m disgruntled about the ending. Of course, when you are reading stuff that has to fit within actual events, you can’t really have the ending that you want… Though, that's not really the problem here, I don't think. :::shrug::

Update: I just looked up "historical fiction." I like my way better.

Related Posts: